


Made this house a home

by kitkat0723



Series: Changing Pace [5]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Buck doesn't like Silence, Christopher Diaz is a Sweetheart, Eddie doesn't like Parties, M/M, New Friends, Parties, Slice of Life, domestic buddie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:27:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27694117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitkat0723/pseuds/kitkat0723
Summary: It's been a little over one year since the move from LA to Pennsylvania. Eddie's adjusted and content. Buck and he have been married for years, and still, the one thing he can't figure out is why his husband likes to be around noise.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz
Series: Changing Pace [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1956955
Comments: 4
Kudos: 51





	Made this house a home

**Author's Note:**

> So the beginning of this was supposed to be for another fic, but that idea didn't fit into this world. So I kept what I had and decided to make it fit for the Changing Pace verse. 
> 
> Eddie doesn't like people or parties, but he loves Buck so of course, he goes along with Buck's plans. Enjoy this slice of life.

The sounds of Shawn Mendes play low on the radio as Eddie taps his fingers to the beat while listening to Christopher recount his day. Thankfully the rain stopped this morning. Eddie hopes the ground dries soon because he was sick of coming home from the Academy caked in mud. Not that it wouldn’t help the recruits but Eddie hated having mud in places there shouldn’t be mud.    
“Frankie’s mom is letting him throw a party this weekend..” Eddie flips the turn signal and looks over at his son before the road needs his attention again. Not for the first time, he wonders where his little boy went.    
“And..” Eddie waits for a beat, see if Christopher picks up the conversation thread. Only the sound of pop music fills the cab of the truck. “You want to go?”    
“You and Buck said I only had to be grounded two weeks. It’s been two and a half.” A noise of confirmation leaves Eddie as he drives towards  _ WildFire _ . When they first discovered the restaurant, a month after they got here, they had a good laugh over it. When they spotted the help wanted sign during a shopping trip, Buck called it fate. Eddie had to agree.    
“Maybe next time you won’t be rude to your step-father. Just because he would do anything for you, doesn’t mean you have a right to do what you did and say what you said.”    
“I was tired and therapy kicked my butt.” Eddie knows how hard his son works at his therapies and how they tire him out.    
“That’s still not an excuse Christopher. I’ll talk to Buck tonight after his shift. If we decide together your punishment is over, you can go. But I’ll drop you off and pick you up.”    
As Christopher rolls his eyes and crosses his arms in the passenger seat, Eddie longs for the days when Christopher was younger. Back in L.A when there wasn’t so much sass and more hugs. “Fine.”    
The cab of his truck goes silent again as Eddie turns down the last road towards the restaurant. It’s always packed and tonight is no exception, even for a Thursday. Since the move and Buck starting at the restaurant, Eddie tried to support him at work at least a couple of times a month. Parking the car, Eddie reached over and ruffled Christopher’s hair, if only to get the pout off of his son's face. He looked so much like Shannon when he did it, sometimes it hurt. Eddie tries not to think about the past and his ex-wife often, but sometimes it creeps in. Instead of the stabbing pain, it’s now a dull ache. As expected his teenager laughs as Eddie exits the truck.    
After helping Christopher out of the truck, they head inside. Dana, the hostess, greets them and leads them back to the table Buck always has reserved for them. “We’re pretty busy tonight, but I’ll let Buck know you’re here.”    
“Thanks, Dana.”    
“Sure thing. I’ll get your drinks right out. Wine or Beer tonight?” She doesn’t bother with menus. Even with the place busy, Buck always sees to it they’re taken care of.    
“Beer is fine.”    
“You got it.”    
Used to waiting around, Eddie pulls out the cellphone from his pocket, hands it over. “You can have it back, just make sure you apologize to Buck.”    
Christopher smiles. “Thanks, dad! Oh! I forgot to tell you. I got an eighty-seven on the science quiz. There was some stuff we didn’t cover, but I did the best I could.”    
“That’s great, Chris. You tried that’s all that matters. Did you talk to Mr. Becker about your prep classes?”    
Christopher set his cellphone down with a sigh. Eddie’s pretty sure his son can’t talk to him without making the noise at least once now. “Yes, yesterday. He says I have to at least bring up my history grade. I’m trying.”    
“We’ll figure it out, but it might mean giving up a few weekends with Frankie, Benny, and company.”    
Christopher lays his head in his arms. “I know.”    
Dana arrived at that moment and set down Eddie’s beer and a soda for Christopher. “I let Buck know you’re waiting for your food. It shouldn’t be long.”    
“Thank you.”    
Eddie and Christopher continue to have their conversation about School and Eddie retells the story of why he came caked in mud earlier, much to his son's shock and amazement.    
Dinner, as it always is was fantastic and Eddie can’t believe Christopher didn’t even put up a protest about eating vegetables. They’re waiting around for Buck to come out and tell them he’ll see them at home, while the tables are still full it doesn’t seem like it’s all that busy now. Eddie finished off the last of his glass of lemon water and took a look around. The deep dark reds and muted yellows with splashes of orange shouldn’t go together, but they do. The low light is suited for muted conversation and shy smiles followed up by soft touches to the back of the hand. It’s a good place, and he knows Buck loves being in the kitchen.    
As the kitchen doors swing open, Eddie watches his husband step through them. Buck pulled off the hat from his head, his dirty blond curls, shooting every which way. The black coat he wears along with the apron hug his biceps tight. Eddie nudges Christopher who’s busy talking to his friends on his phone. The teenager hands over his phone as he gets his crutches as Buck walks over to them. Even with the smell of the kitchen clinging to him, Buck pulls him into his embrace, kissing him until Eddie isn’t sure how to breathe right without breathing in his husband.    
“I missed you too.” Buck laughs and bends down a little to give Christopher a sideways hug.    
“What can I say, I hate working during the week. The weekends are more my speed. See you at home?”    
Eddie nods, holding tight to Buck for a few more seconds. “Of course. I’ll wait up for you.”    
Buck raised his eyebrows. “Don’t you have to work in the morning?”    
Eddie shook his head. “Nope. I took the day off because I am tired of the mud. I’ll tell you about it later. Christopher?”    
Chris looks over at them, hangs his head, then picks it back up. “I’m sorry that I was rude to you Buck.”    
“We all have bad days, Superman. That doesn’t mean we should be rude to those we care about but thank you for apologizing.”    
As someone calls his name from behind them, Buck rolls his eyes. “Gotta go. Love you both.” Buck kisses him one last time and places a kiss on top of Christopher’s curls before heading back through the doors. 

  
***  
 _One week later_   
  
Buck’s blond hair sticks to the dark green pillowcase as a snore works its way up to his throat. He’s sprawled out on the bed and one arm is thrown over where Eddie was currently laying. The patchwork quilt they’d picked up on a visit to Amish country last month is tangled around his long legs. Eddie can’t fathom a reason why he finds Buck attractive like this, but he does. They’ve been together six years, married for three and Eddie will never tire of looking at Buck. No matter what time of day it is. Morning, the afternoon, late at night. Every version of Buck is his favorite. The sun has long been up and his son will be calling soon to be picked up from his sleepover or beg to stay another night. Buck got in late the night before, barely making it through a shower before he collapsed in bed with a quick muffled _I love you_. Eddie just rolled over, kissed his husband's forehead, and went back to sleep. It’s how they work nowadays.   
Leaving his husband snoring while the sun washes into the room is a regret for Eddie, but since Buck was still sleeping and the party was today, Eddie figures one of them should get started on prepping the house. The scent of coffee fills the house as Eddie goes to put on some music. The house is much too quiet. He loves the quiet, but knowing there’s work to be done, Eddie needs the noise.   
Rob Thomas pumps out of the speakers of the record player and Eddie heads for the dining room first. The table is filled with everything they needed for today while the fridge is stuffed with food for later. Placing the bags on the floor he opens the table cloth before going to make his coffee. It promises to be a nice day, but even so, the basement is filled with rental tables for their guests and places to lounge if they want to. Buck knows how to throw a party, Eddie sometimes wishes his husband would just throw them when he wasn’t home.   
He starts to make his way downstairs, coffee in hand when the doorbell rings. He curses under his breath, then quickly hurries to the front door. Eddie smiles when he peeks out of the window in the door to see who it is. The woman standing there smiles back, her brunette hair, piled high onto her head as her dark brown eyes tell him she’s been up a while, but with three kids under the age of twelve, he would expect no less.   
He opens the door, laughs a little as she tells him. “Happy one-year moveaversary!”   
“Buck is still sleeping. You’re stuck with me.”   
“It’s not a problem. I brought goodies too!” She picks up the bags at her feet, holds them up.   
“Miranda..” Eddie starts but knows it’s a lost cause. Their neighbor rolls her eyes and passes him one of the bags as he steps back to let her through. She was one of the first people to introduce herself when they moved in, bringing over a casserole dish that Buck begged her for the recipe. They’d been friends ever since even if she lives five houses down.   
“You know no matter how many parties you and that very hot husband of yours throw and tell me not to bring anything, I’m going to. I’m going to get coffee and then I’ll help. Is that okay?”   
Eddie extends his arm. She’s been in the house enough times to know where everything is. “You know where it is. I’m gonna put this in the dining room.”   
“Okay. This one goes in the kitchen anyway.” Slipping of the flats she had on, she heads towards the back of the house as Eddie heads for the dining room.   
When she finally walks through the door, she sends him a smile as she looks around the dark blue and red decorations. “I love it.”   
“Buck’s idea. I hate parties, you know that.”   
Miranda sipped her coffee and nodded. “Mmmhmm. Let's get the downstairs going, I’m sure more people will show up soon.”   
Eddie just sighs and leads the way out of the dining room.   
***  
Everyone is laughing and having a blast. The food's a hit like he knew it would be. The kids are playing video games on the flat screen in the basement, making the volume rise in cadence with each scream of defeat. People are moving in and out talking about work, marriage, parenthood, and everything in between. Eddie slips up the stairs, only to be bombarded with more noise in upstairs. Buck is floating from group to group laughing and smiling. Eddie watches from a moment leaning up against the wall. Buck’s eyes are bright as he talks to Jake from work about something as they both sip from longnecks. Miranda waves at him from the other room and he waves back before slipping out of the back door.   
Taking in a deep breath of cold Pennsylvania air, he lets it go slowly as he tries to dispel the lingering anxiety that crawled under his skin somewhere around the second set of guests walking into his home. His breath is visible in the cool night. Slipping his hands into his pockets, he walks towards his truck and drops the tailgate. As he hops up and sits down he hisses at the coldness but welcomes the feeling. He was overheated and needs to settle himself again.   
The Davidson’s backlight is visible over the fence but Eddie looks up at the stars, thankful he can see them. He remembers LA and how you couldn’t see the stars unless you went way out. Here, in their new home, he’s seen them almost every night for a year. Glancing down at his hands, Eddie spins his wedding ring around his finger. It was LA that got him the love of his life, a new purpose. It was LA that felt like home. Now Pennsylvania feels like home because Buck is here. He just wishes there weren’t so many people crowding into their spaces. The backdoor opens, noise following until it cuts off. He looks up expecting to see one of their friends, instead, Buck walks out, the fingers of one hand wrapped around two bottles of beer, the other stuff in his pocket.   
He doesn’t say anything as he sets the beer down, only hisses out a breath as he sits on the cold tailgate. Eddie grabs one of the beers, pops the top. Content to sit with his husband in silence.   
It's a while before either one speaks. “Shouldn’t you be entertaining company?”   
“It’s your house too.”   
“You wanted the party.”   
“I hate silence.”   
Eddie’s brain tries to follow the whip of words, confused where they came from. “What?”   
Buck sighs and sets his beer down, bringing his long legs up and folding into himself. “I hate silence. That’s why there was always noise in the loft, and why I always tried to keep moving or saying something. This house,” he inclines his head towards the ugly white, soon to be Navy two-story home with new windows and trim. “It used to be filled with silence. No one dared speak unless they were spoken to. And forget telling someone you had a cold...it was cold. So I like the noise. I like people.”   
“Buck.” Eddie reaches out and pulls one of his husband's hands into his own. “You can have a million people here for all I care. I just needed a break.”   
“You hate noise.”   
“I don’t like loud noise, that’s different. And there are too many people crowding into the house for me. That’s all. Go in and enjoy. I’ll come in in a minute.”   
“Miranda told me I wasn’t allowed in until I brought you back with me.”   
Eddie laughed and brought their joined hands to his lips. “She means well.”   
Buck chuckled. “She reminds me of Maddie.”   
“She reminds me of Sophie. That’s why I let her in.”   
Buck turned his head towards Eddie, kissed him. “They’ll be gone in the next two hours. I wanted us to celebrate this.”   
“We are. With the people who mean something to us.”   
The pair fall silent again, sipping from their beers. Eddie remembers the first two nights here. He couldn’t settle. Everything felt weird and out of place.   
He came to sit outside, a night just like tonight enveloping him like a hug. Everything had been different, the sounds, the smells, the sights. He stayed outside until Buck had come to find him and they sat in silence until one in the morning and they went back in cuddling into each other on the air mattress as Christopher slept on the sofa bed. They’d come along way from that first week.   
Slipping from the tailgate, he holds out a hand for Buck, who smiles at him and grabs the beers. Hand in hand, they walked inside, into the different sights and sounds of their new friends, in a house once filled with coldness and silence that was now filled with warmth and love and noise. They’d made their house a home. 

**Author's Note:**

> Christopher is a teenager in this and well, teenagers need to have repercussions for their actions when they are not nice to people. So yeah sometimes kids get grounded.
> 
> Come scream at me on my Tumblr @kitkat0723


End file.
